Q: iPhone 4 Home button issue...

Voice control at boot most likely means that the phone thinks the button is being pressed all of the time. This could mean there is some liquid or other contamination in the switch itself. I had this problem with my daughter's iPhone 3GS after she spilled some water on it. In the end I half disassembled the phone (to the point of being able to see the switch contacts, but not to the point of taking the screen apart) and cleaned the contacts using a combination of a drop of alcohol, clicking it a lot, and lots of compressed gas. After reassembly the switch worked properly. There are some good disassembly guides out on the internet (not sure if I'm allowed to link to them here?), or you could find a third party repair facility. Obviously you would not want to attempt this if you're not somewhat comfortable with mechanical things.

Wel....actually i did it already because my home button wasnt working at all and i replaced it. So its propably not working at the moment.

I have to try to disassebly it again and try. Problem is that you have to take all out , but im going to try your method first.

Whenever your home button goes funny it needs to be re-calibrated.. Go into any stock iOS app, like calendar, and hold down the power button. "When the slide to turn off" appears, hold down the home button an it will disappear, your home button should be working perfectly!

I disassebled my iphone again and installed old one in instead new and BOOM home button is working again (atleast now). So it seems that the ordered one was broken.

Sorry, but this has proven to be FALSE.

There is no home button "calibration".

Ok ....

About the Home button not working some or most of the times.  Here is my story.  My wife's IP4 button stopped working.  We brought it to Apple store and they said the phone is out of warranty so they can't fo anything about it.  At least, they turn on the Assistuve touch feature so you can use the "soft home button".

I watched youtube videos on how to fix the problem.  Read some thread that it's a software or calibration issue.

Here is the REAL FIX (trust me):

There is NO calibration for the button (it's like a button on your keyboard)

It's NOT a software issue.

It's a DIRT problem. Yes, dirt as dirty ....

How to remove or clean it? you may ask ... How to get beneath the button or how to open it up?... None of those are needed.

Here is what you need and need to do:

NEED -> rubbing alcohol  and a can of compressed air

HOW TO CLEAN ->  drop 3 or 4 drops of the rubbing alcohol onto the home button

                               use your finger and press on the button and swirl it around, clockwise and counter-clockwise.  Dont let the alcohol dry up.

                               use the compressed air can and spray it on the edge of the button until the alcohol dissipate.

                               repeat this process 2 or 3 times

Now try to work the button ..... :-)

Oh, i forgot ....

I did fix my wife IP4 home button being not responding.  She is very happy now that it works again.  Also i cleaned mine too.

Be careful about this. Drugstore rubbing alcohol has a lot of water in it (the actual alcohol percentage is not so high). So, you're getting water into the button mechanism. If you don't dry it all up it can cause problems.

ok, I tried a number of Solutions , but this weekend I discovered that taking my Iphone Protector off , fixed the Issue with the Home Button, It seems that the Rubber and Plastic from my Protector is interfering with the home button. Please let me know if this solution helps !

I had exactly the same issue and in my case at least the problem was NOT hardware related, it was actually caused by an app that was running in the background. I suggest you switch off all running apps (the Home button should go back to working normally at this stage) then switch them back ON one by one until you find the culprit.

I hope this helps.

Zed

Having similar issue.  Home button just does not work at times.  Will press and sporadically get a 10 to 15 second delay before the unit will activated, other times it takes minutes before it comes back.  Not consistent.  Will try the reboot method. 
Thanks for your input.

Good tip.  I looked and had all kind of apps running on the phone.

Will keep an eye on this to see if I can find the one that is jamming

me.

Same problem. Fixed. Bring it in to your local Apple Store, ask them to fix it, I think they'll take the button off, polish and wax it (i forgot exactly) and they put it back in. The process will take a few hours, but the phone works.

I figured out how to fix this issue on my iPhone 4, also works on 4s.

Basically there is a screw that is a little loose. On the iPhone 4 and 4s you can access it just by removing the back plate covering the battery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a39aXIu7mV8

Hopefully this helps!

For many of you this is not a hardware issue even if it seems like so, replacing the home button, tightening screws, and using alcohol should be a last resort if ever. For others, the power-off then hold Home button trick is not exactly a placebo but is effective like using cough medicine for lung cancer.

The problem for many of you is the iPhone STORAGE being full. Go to Settings -> General -> Usage and see how much "Available" space you have at the top of the screen. If it's less than 400mb you need to clear some space. Clear perhaps 2GB and then re-add it to see how far you can get away with. In general 10% free for best performance. Enabling iTunes to sync all songs at 128kbps AAC is a great way to get space back.

My understanding is this has to do with how apps are cached in storage for multitasking and there not being enough free space to quickly address Home button actions such as re-caching or swapping memory for apps. Plus, like OS X or Windows, everything goes to **** when you run too low on space.